Germany-based grocery delivery service Gorillas raised $290m in series B funding from investors including internet group Tencent yesterday.
The corporate was joined by investment manager Coatue Management, investment firms DST Global and Greenoaks, venture capital firm Fifth Wall and venture studio Atlantic Food Labs. The round valued the company at over $1bn, it said in a LinkedIn post.
Gorillas operates an app-based service that allows users in 13 cities across Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to order groceries for delivery in as little as 10 minutes. It relies on a network of fulfilment centres and staff that use bicycles to deliver the products.
Kağan Sümer, founder and chief executive of Gorillas, said in a press release quoted by several media outlets: “We have a simple goal: to change the game in the grocery retail market, which has been slow to implement new and speedier technological solutions.
“By effortlessly enabling immediate access to fresh and healthy food at retail prices, we essentially simplify the process of doing groceries.”
The startup, which was founded in 2020, claims it is the fastest European company ever to pass a $1bn valuation. Atlantic Food Labs was reportedly among the participants in a seed round sized at about $1.33m which preceded a $44m series A round in December led by Coatue and backed by undisclosed European investors.
